SUNY Hawks earn berth in semifinal

SUNY New Paltz began defense of its NCAA Division III men’s volleyball championship Thursday, advancing to the semifinals of the United Volleyball Conference semifinals with a sweep of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Hawks won 25-22, 25-16, 25-23. New Paltz, 23-7 and seeded fourth in the tournament, will play No. 1 Vassar in Friday’s 2:30 p.m. semis. At stake is a berth in Saturday’s 2 p.m. title match.

Vassar, 24-6, won the UVC regular season title.

The other side of the bracket features Nazareth College and Stevens Tech, which played late Thursday.

That winner takes on New York University on Friday.

Jake Roessler (14 kills, three digs), Anthony Bonilla (seven kills), Steven

Woessner (six kills, three digs), Matthew Grace (32 assists, three aces), Robert Nolan (16 disg) and Bradley Schneider (eight digs) led the way for New Paltz.

Yize Dong (21 assists), Martin Krasuski (11 kills,

seven digs, two aces), Steven Timberman (five kills), Tavish Smith (five kills) and Jordan Lucier (five digs) paced MIT, which finished the season with a 2010 record.

The Hawks are bidding

for their third UVC title in four years. They reached the NCAA semifinals in 2014 and ‘15, the latter with an at-large bid. They went 33-2 last year, culminating with the national championship.

Trainer’s room

Mets: CF Juan Lagares went 1 for 4 with Class A St. Lucie in his third rehab game. Lagares began the season on the disabled list because of a left oblique injury.

Phillies: An MRI on RHP Clay Buchholz revealed a partial tear of the right flexor pronator mass. He will seek a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews on Monday. Highland 11, Lourdes 7

At Highland, Roger Hegeman scored four goals